Vehicle recycling tax to become new tax for motorists

KYIV (QHA) - A vehicle recycling tax, if introduced, will be a new tax for motorists, Director General of the All-Ukrainian Association of Automobile Importers and Dealers (VAAID) Oleh Nazarenko said this at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday, UKRINFORM reported. "An additional tax appears, no one hides it. Besides VAT, duty, excise duty and special duty the so-called vehicle recycling tax appears, it is paid by the importer, but the price of vehicles is the price of the manufacturer, the dealer margins and all taxes, that is the price of the vehicle rises in proportion to the recycling tax," Nazarenko said. He believes that the new law does not specify the criteria on which the old vehicles must be disposed of, and this, consequently, will lead to arbitrary of regulatory authorities. "There are no criteria in the law, that is, from September 1, any car can be considered detrimental to the environment, and it is unclear who will determine this, who will stop the car. Environmentalists will take to the roads to hunt, traffic police, Ministry of Health, and everyone will say that your vehicle does not meet the technical requirements, threatens human health," Nazarenko said. The VAAID director also expressed the view that the law on vehicle recycling was adopted, taking into account a possible reduction of special duty on imported cars. "They hastened to introduce a recycling tax to compensate for removal of special duties," he concluded. In turn, ViDi auto Management Group Director General Artem Tkachenko said that the owner of the car under the new law will have to pay for the recycling fee at the time of its bringing into Ukraine. "The average age of vehicle operation in Ukraine makes 17 years and the recycling tax will have to be paid at the time of import. Does someone believe that in 17 years the money, paid today, will be used for the disposal of the vehicle?" he said. As previously reported, July 4, 2013 the Verkhovna Rada adopted two bills in full: on the recycling of the decommissioned vehicles and making the appropriate changes on the payment of environmental charge for their recycling to the Tax Code. These laws yet have not been signed by the President of Ukraine.QHA